These notes concern the binary distribution of Perl for the Win32 platform. This distribution was compiled using BC++ v.5.02. It is built around the production release of Perl version 5.004_02. These files were "ported" to Win32 for Windows(tm) by Gurusamy Sarathy gsar@umich.edu on 08-AUG-1997. SEE the README file in the distribution itself for ALL the details! WHY WOULD YOU WANT THIS DISTRIBUTION ? -------------------------------------- You want to use perl on Windows(tm)NT or Windows(tm)95, but you have no C compiler (or at least not one that will build perl) NOTE: EVEN the Borland C++ 5.02 compiler WILL HAVE PROBLEMS building Perl on a Windows(tm)95 machine! Thus the reason so many programmers need to download this archive. INSTALLATION ------------ To install: * Extract the archive so that the directory structure of the files is preserved. * `cd' to the top level directory of the installation files: (Most likely C-drive):\perl5.00402-bindist04-bc\ * Type `install' (if in the DOS command shell) or click on `install.bat' (from the File Explorer). If that refuses to run for some reason, you can instead type: `perl\bin\perl install.bat' (in the DOS command shell) The setup process will ask a few questions and will offer to generate HTML documentation from the various files in the distribution. A full installation requires about 20 extra Megabytes of free space! * Add the installed location of PERL.EXE to your `PATH': If you ask for things to be installed under `c:\perl', then add `c:\perl\bin' to your PATH statement in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. (This change to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file will require you to reboot your PC before it will take effect.) * You will need to edit the contents of %NetConfig in `lib\site\Net\Config.pm' to set the names of the servers used by the libnet package. [Although it's certainly a good idea to do this if you have a server running _and_ know how, most beginners and home users can skip this step for now.] The lines in Config.pm appear as follows: %NetConfig = ( test_hosts => '0', nntp_hosts => ['news'], snpp_hosts => [], pop3_hosts => [], ftp_ext_passive => '0', smtp_hosts => ['mailhost'], inet_domain => 'nowhere.com', ph_hosts => ['dirserv'], test_exist => '0', daytime_hosts => [], ftp_int_passive => '0', ftp_firewall => undef, time_hosts => [], Final Notes ----------- The initial subdirectories under `distfiles' contain docu- mentation and test-suites that are NOT installed; you may want to save these for later reference. NOTE: You may see some "patch files" in the distribution. These were included FOR INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY. You do _NOT_ have to apply them (or even know what a patch is) to use the Perl files in this distribution. EOF. Edited by The Starman 23 JUN 1999.